HWS Capacity for Single Bedroom Unit

Hi Peeps,

Not sure if this is the right forum, so admin please move if there is somewhere more appropriate.

Upon moving into an older one bedder unit, the tenant complained that there was insufficient hot water. The unit has a 47 litre electric storage HWS installed in the kitchen cabinets to service the kitchen, laundry and bathroom. There are no 'low flow' taps in the unit, nor is there a low flow shower head. The HWS takes 2 hrs to reheat once exhausted.

In practical terms, if the tenant does not do laundry or dishes, they have enough hot water for a 3-5 minute shower. The land lord has offered to install a low flow shower head which would help somewhat - but is this enough?

Does the tenant have grounds to insist on a higher capacity HWS, or terminate early due to the HWS? No doubt it would cycle a few times daily leading to high electricity bills.

For clarity, its not my property. Its the place my daughter recently rented.

Cheers,
Scott

 

Can you just increase the temperture of the thermostat to solve the problem?

 

It's not enough capacity, if she wants a bath it's not enough to bathe in. Low flow shower heads will help but it still won't be enough if two people to have a shower, one after the other. Upping the thermostat would help but that's also a danger to young kids. I'd much rather see the hot water system replaced.

 

Ghoti well standard shower heads should be 9L/min so 47 litre tank so 9/47 is 5mins of hot water and thats just hot water normal you'd have 50/50 so thats 10 minutes worth of a normal shower.

 

Assuming no heat loss between HWS and Shower, and a low flo shower head (9L/Min is 3 star WELS rating). And that would still be a lukewarm shower (roughly 36C assuming 60C hws and 12C tapwater at 50/50 mix). I understand the 'standard' shower temp is 42C.

Good point Gockie - its actually a shower over bath setup. Standard bath is 285 litres, so a 50/50 mix would be a lukewarm bath 1/3 full.

I understand the landlord and his wife previously occupied the unit so don't know how they managed!

Anyway, I'll suggest she pushes for a better HWS. If the landlord is unwilling to do this would she have grounds for terminating the lease early (without penalties?).

 

I have no idea on this question. I would recommend the LL upgrades the system though because it will be an ongoing issue, no matter who occupies the unit.

 

9l/min is standard its not low flo, why are you asumming it's lukewarm? 36c? where are you getting this from :s

i would say the standard is 38 for males and 38-41 for females.

 

I've seen plenty of 1 bedders with less but not running at off peak tariff. Also seen 2 bedders on 50 litres. It doesn't need an upgrade.

I'd suggest water efficient taps 9 litres or less. And to shower with a friend.

 

Not to argue...just to answer question

Govt WELS site says 15-25l/minute for a standard shower head with 9l/min 3 star and 6l/min 5 star. As an aside, in Bunnings today I saw two-packs of 9l/min restrictors for shower heads at $14.90...a lot for two little plastic discs!

As for temps...our instant hws defaults to 42C as does the one at my sons place. We all shower at that temp (not together lol!).

Melbourne tap water averages 12c so 36c would roughly be the result of mixing 50/50 with 60c from HWS. Oh, and I keep and breed tropical fish so measure the tap water temp, ph and hardness almost daily, as do most of the breeders I know.

Bottom line...47 litres is insufficent for her to wash dishes AND shower in a single 2 hour block.

 

I had the same issue in a unit I owned with a 50l hot water system. I had a water saving shower head with a low rate of 6l/minute, the most water saving I could find at Bunnings. It was generally ok for 1 shower, but beyond that it was inadequate. A lot of the heat energy was lost between the hot water unit and the shower too - the system was closer to the kitchen sink than the shower and bath.

So, I can understand her side of the story. I'd be complaining. But i'm still not sure if she can break a lease over it. Maybe a rental discount could be possible as compensation. Then once the lease is over, I'd be moving if it wasn't changed.

 

My 1 and 2br units I lived in had 50l electric storage and lasted fine

 

But was it ok for a second person having a shower immediately after the first person or for someone having a bath?

I suppose expectations of 10 years ago are different to expectations of today.

 

Please put in a decent sized one! We are in a 1 bedroom + study apartment and I hate the fact that washing my hair has almost become a military operation

 

Never had a problem with it but I didn't expect everything to be instant now now now complain complain complain. I guess we used common sense and knew that 50 litres was x mins and worked to that

 

I sold it but it would have been 1 of two alterations I would have made to the place if I kept it - the other improvement being double glazing the windows.

 

I think there's also a decreased limit as to how hot water can come out of a HWS too now - in the past the water was allowed to be extremely hot and now (I thought) legislation was passed so it can no longer come out of a HWS so hot. That would make a huge difference to the amount of hot water needed.

Anyway, I would not be happy if my shower was inadequate. I enjoy a hot shower, call it a life pleasure, everyday luxury or necessity. It would **** me off if my home would not give that to me regularly on demand!

 

15-21L/min? thats ridiculous 9l/min is standard these days i doubt you can even buy above it. unless online

and for temps i think you mean a continuous flow hot water unit and they are set at 50c idk why yours would be 42. unless you mean you have a controller for it in your bathroom and you set it to 42c? and the 47l storage hot water unit would heat to 60c but i would think it'd have a temp valve on it to bring it down to 50c.

if cold water is 12c then you need another 28c to get to 40c so 12c at 50%/ 50c at 50% should be around about right

Cheers, Elives

 

Whirlpool thread on the same topic

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2424228

 

Linky - just install we shower heads and efficient tapered. Alot cheaper than replacing a hws.

Tell her to shower first.

 

Thanks Gockie. Seems a common problem.

@Elives...1960s unit with original bathroom including single flush toilet. Can guarantee the shower head isn't "modern".

@Scott No Mates...understand replacing hws is expensive and not welcomed by land lords.